Who are the people now being targeted so closely by the Garda? The Garda has moved in hard against the biggest drugs gang in the history of Irish organised crime. So-called "super raids" were staged in different parts of Dublin on Wednesday and Friday, aimed at one side of a volatile feud that has been simmering for a few years but has erupted in the past six months. The suspects targeted this week are all linked to the international drugs gang headed by convicted drug dealer Christy Kinahan.
He is originally from Cabra, Dublin, but since his release from prison 15 years ago has been operating from the south of Spain in the area around Marbella, sourcing drugs globally for supply to Irish and UK gangs. Kinahan has lieutenants in Ireland who distribute drugs and collect debts. The most senior Dublin-based members of the gang were targeted, mainly in Crumlin, on Wednesday, in an operation led by the Criminal Assets Bureau. Some 29 vehicles were seized – most of them from a car garage in Dublin owned by the gang members – with about €100,000 in cash and various valuables.
On Friday the Garda targeted younger and more junior criminals who distribute and sell drugs.
Why is the clampdown happening now? The gang has been under investigation in Spain and Ireland – and by European police forces – for many years.
In 2008 gang members shot dead Dublin criminal Paddy Doyle (27) in Spain, and cannabis smuggled by the gang into Ireland valued at more than €10 million was found in Co Kildare.
Those two crimes resulted in the creation of Operation Shovel, an international inquiry into the gang’s activities. Two years ago the drug dealing and gun-running components of that inquiry were dropped in Spain for lack of evidence. But the money laundering component continues, and charges are expected.
That doesn't really explain why there has been lots of activity in Dublin lately. Last September in Spain Dubliner Gary Hutch (34) from the north inner city was shot dead by the gang. That put the Kinahan faction at odds with Hutch's associates in Dublin.
When members of the Kinahan gang gathered at a boxing tournament weigh-in at the Regency Hotel in Drumcondra in Dublin, on February 5th, they were attacked in a well-planned ambush by five gunmen believed to be associates of Hutch.
Crumlin man David Byrne (33) – a member of the Kinahan gang – was shot dead and two others were wounded.
Three days later, Gary Hutch’s uncle Eddie Hutch (58) was shot dead at his home in Dublin’s north inner city – in apparent revenge for Byrne’s killing.
Media coverage has put public pressure on the Government and Garda to act against the criminals involved. This probably brought forward the timing of the raids.
So will all of these people be charged after this week's raids? Probably not. But the raids have put pressure on the Kinahan gang. They have taken assets from its members in Dublin and brought adverse publicity to the car business they own. Data and documents have been seized which may help pick apart the gang's business deals.
The Garda was also criticised for not having surveillance on the Kinahan gang members at the Regency, so the events of recent days help create confidence that the gardaí are on top of the gang members. The guns used in the Regency attack were also found this week, and two men suspected of aiding the killers were identified. Key forensic evidence has also been gathered in relation to the Eddie Hutch killing.
Investigations into the recent violence are being worked hard.
